A Good Investment

MANY people dream of having money to invest--in a home, a business, a farm, some sort of savings. They want their investments to bring them a better life.

Not everyone, though, has extra money to invest. But even the poorest of the poor, in monetary terms, have access to rich spiritual resources, resources that originate in God. These are the most important resources of all. And nowhere are they more clearly identified than in Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew's Gospel. These spiritual resources include humility, mercy, and purity, but the most important resource of all is an unselfish love for God and our fellowman. Incorporating these v alues into our daily life may take persistence, but it is the best investment of time and effort we can make.

The dividends due from this kind of investment aren't dependent on time, either. Jesus said, John's Gospel records, ``Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." This promise is true whether the need is for physical healing or food to relieve hunger, whether we live in a great home or have no home at all.

Man, as the beloved child of God, is made in God's likeness--spiritual and already complete, just as God is spiritual and complete. Before I learned these fundamental facts about manabout your and my--true relationship to God, there was a time when I was very unhappy with my work situation. At this low point in my life I reached out again to the Bible and began studying Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. I also began reading my wife's copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by the Discovere r and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. For the first time I realized that there were spiritual resources I could depend on to sustain me and my family. Speaking of God, Soul, Mrs. Eddy assures us in Science and Health: ``Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul."

Soon we moved to a new community and I started new work, but I still had a lot to learn about using my spiritual resources. I was trying to sell life insurance, and many who made appointments with me failed to keep them. With almost no income, our financial future looked bleak.

One evening after two appointments weren't kept, I returned home disheartened. In spite of my discouragement, I realized I had a choice to make. Either I could think of those who missed appointments as deceitful or uncaring--and that certainly seemed to be the way they were acting--or I could keep in my own thinking an understanding of the deeper reality of man and his relationship to God. It was a struggle, but that night I decided that in every contact with others, I would try very hard to see only the

man of God's making--the man who is one with God and is spiritual, with no dishonest or callous traits. I felt as though a big weight had been lifted from me. Soon I left the insurance business for a different form of sales work. Other opportunities also opened up that brought prosperity to our family.

What meant the most to me in this experience was the immediate freedom that came with my rejuvenated understanding that man is actually the child of God. I had invested in improving my understanding of God, and the spiritual growth that followed brought concrete ideas that solved my financial and work-related problems. Understanding man's relationship with God freed me from impending financial disaster. The same fundamental truths that worked for me are available to anyone. Investing in these truths is t he best investment we can make.

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